Men's Tennis

Islanders Sweep Doubleheader against St. Mary’s on the Road

Feb 09, 2012

SAN ANTONIO – The nationally-ranked Texas A&M – Corpus Christi men's tennis team pulled off a pair of sweeps in a doubleheader on Thursday, taking down St. Mary's by a 7-0 final in the first match, and following it up with a 4-0 win in the second match of the day. The Islanders will now prepare to face No. 14 Texas in the first ever men's match at the new Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center in a 2 p.m. match on Sunday afternoon.

The Islanders, who have been in the national rankings every week this season, are now 4-3 on the season with the two wins. The Rattlers are now 0-2 on the year, with the matches on Thursday being their first of the season.

With the first seven matches of the year complete, the Islanders will now return to Corpus Christi to play for the first time at the state-of-the-art Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon. It will be a meeting between two nationally ranked teams in the inaugural men's match at the facility.

"We played very focused today," said Director of Tennis Steve Moore. "I think we know we have a huge match on Sunday and we needed to use this as an opportunity to really max out the things we can control."

In the opening match, the Islanders quickly grabbed a 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point. Aurelien Tave and Matt Westmoreland were the first to finish, taking an 8-0 final at the No. 2 position, while Peter Nagy and Gergo Weidinger won by an 8-2 final at No. 1 doubles to clinch the point for the team. Andrew Maingot and Alex Pavlov finished out doubles play with an 8-4 final in the No. 3 spot.

In singles, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi once again focused on the task at hand and played with determination throughout that portion of the match. Fernando Llorens was the first to finish, taking a clean sweep 6-0, 6-0 final at No. 5 singles to make it a 2-0 advantage.

Westmoreland and Nathan Robinson were able to clinch the match for the Islanders with a pair of 6-1, 6-1 victories, with Westmoreland's coming at No. 4 and Robinson's at No. 6 for a 4-0 score. Tave garnered a 6-3, 6-1 final at No. 2 singles, while Nagy won 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 1 position. Weidinger battled in a tough second set before completing a 6-0, 7-5 final at No. 3 to close out the opening match.

With the first match down, the Islanders continued the momentum into the second match, taking another sweep by a 4-0 final.

Nagy started things off with a 6-0, 6-0 final at No. 1 singles to open the scoring. Robinson then took a 6-0, 6-1 final at No. 4 singles, while Pietro Jordao won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 5 and Maingot finished the match with a 6-1, 6-1 final.

"I thought we played with a lot of spirit today and improved in certain things," said Moore. "Our team played with a lot of focus knowing that we needed to improve on certain things, not just for Sunday, but overall as a team."

For the men's tennis team, next up will be the Sunday match against Texas for the men's team. The women's tennis team will be back in action at home against St. Mary's on Friday starting at 1 p.m. in a doubleheader.

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